The Valerons--Retribution!

by Terrell L Bowers

  ‘What about the tannery?’

  ‘We’ll stop by and pick up whoever is waiting to help dispose of your body.’

  Wyatt snickered. ‘Tell them Jared can generally use a cleaning, but he isn’t real keen on taking a dip in anything quite so harsh as lime.’

  Don Larson stood before Bingham Pegg with his hat in his hands and a lowered head. He had helped take the two hired goons into town with Wendy and July. He’d been there when Officer Fielding and the Valerons showed up with all of their prisoners in tow. He informed the man about his son and the crimes they would be answering to.

  ‘You mean Hank Grubber was part of a rustling operation?’ Bingham did not hide his incredulity. ‘I thought him an honest man.’

  ‘And the police sergeant, McEnroe, was involved too.’

  Bingham heaved a sigh. ‘I knew some chicanery must be going on, Don. I mean, my boy was making more money than I ever imagined running that place. I couldn’t figure out how he could manage it, unless he was doing something underhanded.’

  ‘The Big M ranch is in your name, Mr Pegg. The Valerons showed me the paperwork. As for the rest of it, I know a little about buying and selling beef. It didn’t take a lot of looking to see the books had been fixed. The discrepancy between the amount of beef purchased and the amount sold – it was impossible to cover up.’

  The elderly man was despondent. ‘My son, a crook and a would-be murderer.’

  ‘When the court had the bank records checked, your son has more than twenty thousand dollars in his account.’

  ‘Mantee, Grubber, McEnroe . . . it’s sad what greed can do.’

  ‘I’m real sorry, Mr Pegg,’ Don told him. ‘I guess your boy wanted to be wealthy and took the shortest route to reach his goal.’

  ‘What is to be done about the slaughterhouse?’

  ‘It has to stay open,’ Don said. ‘The entire valley depends on it for meat – and same for the tannery. Hank said his brother would come up from Santa Fe to assume control of it. Hank expects to get a couple years behind bars for processing hides from rustled beef. I’m not sure about your son. He claims he never ordered anyone hurt during the rustling. If the judge feels sorry for him, he might only get a few years too.’

  ‘You said he was arrested while in the process of preparing to murder two men – those Valerons.’ He uttered a conclusive grunt. ‘Can’t see any judge overlooking that.’

  ‘You’re probably right.’

  ‘I’ll take over the running of the slaughterhouse again,’ Bingham decided. ‘However, I’ll want to hire another meat-cutter.’

  Don felt a sinking in his stomach. ‘I understand. I didn’t hide what little I knew from the investigators. I probably helped them to discover the truth of the rustling ring.’

  ‘That might be true,’ Bingham countered. ‘However, I’m not looking to replace you; I’m looking to promote you. When we were working together, you mentioned you ran your own business for a time. With a little of my help, you can learn to run this business for me.’

  Don was speechless for a moment. Then he gasped, ‘You want me to manage the operation?’

  Bingham grinned, in spite of the mental anguish he was suffering. ‘Yes, son, I want you to manage it. Like I said, I’ll lend a hand for a little while, but I’m too old for the daily grind. I will sell the Big M, with however many cattle there are with it and retire again, here with my wife.’

  ‘Thank you, sir! I’ll sure do the best job I know how.’

  ‘I don’t know what you were being paid, but you can put yourself down for double the amount and we’ll decide on a percent of the net profit to add to that.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Don said. ‘That’s very generous!

  ‘Tomorrow is Monday. You need to arrive early and get a jump on the orders. I’ll be there after I visit my son and find out when he is to go on trial.’

  ‘I’ll make sure everything is kept on schedule.’

  Bingham reached out and shook Don’s hand. ‘It’s a sorry way to get a promotion, but I figure you’ll do me a good honest job.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I will.’

  Locke sat with Wendy on the train, while July shared a place next to Shane. Cliff and the two Indians had left for home the previous day.

  ‘I feel that I should have stayed with Jared and Wyatt,’ Wendy spoke after a time. ‘After all, it was our audit that exposed the extra beef. The judge might have wanted that part of the investigation to be explained in court.’

  ‘Officer Fielding assured me the charges were irrefutable. With the rustling, a murder charge and attempted murder of Jared and Shane – most of those men will offer up only a plea for leniency. Jared can testify if necessary, but it sounded as if the judge was a good man.’

  ‘Yes, but I shot the one bruiser who arrived to threaten Mr Larson’s family. What about my testimony for that?’

  Locke chuckled. ‘I think you feel a bit cheated, dear daughter. You did something quite daring and heroic and would have enjoyed a bit of the glory.’

  ‘Daddy, you make me sound self-promoting, wanting to bathe in the light of my deeds.’

  ‘We are all proud of you, Wendy,’ Locke told her seriously. ‘We’ve always been very proud of you.’

  ‘So what about my idea for my new job?’

  ‘You mean taking a green cowhand and making him a bookkeeper?’

  ‘Trust you to make the position sound small and trivial, Father.’

  Locke put a stern look on her. ‘Why is it, that when you are coercing me into doing something, you call me Dad? Yet if I balk at your notion or don’t give in right away, I become Father?’

  Wendy looked him in square in the eye. ‘You know me very well . . . Daddy,’ she said carefully. ‘You might as well know that I’m very fond of July Colby too.’

  ‘Do tell?’

  ‘We haven’t done any formal courting, but it is something we intend to do. I would like your permission and support.’

  ‘And if I don’t give it?’

  Without skipping a beat: ‘Then I’ll do it anyway.’

  He laughed at her brazen honesty. ‘Wendy, honey,’ he said lovingly, ‘you know I only want what is best for you. And I’ve told each and every child in our family the same thing – once you reach the age of twenty-one, your mother and I accept you as fully grown-up adults. By that time, we assume you have learned enough to make your own decisions.’

  Wendy started to speak, but he held up a hand to stop her.

  ‘However,’ he continued to lecture her, ‘when it comes to running the ranch or overseeing our many operations or businesses, that is not up to anyone but myself, Udal and Temple. We three brothers share the heavy responsible of taking care of all our families and all of those people who work for us. There is no room for bias or preferential treatment.’

  ‘Yes, Father,’ Wendy acquiesced. ‘I understand.’

  ‘That being said, for the job of overseeing four of our businesses, I’m happy to allow you to hire whomever you please . . . so long as they prove competent in their tasks.’

  Wendy put on one of her pixie expressions. ‘You have the most infuriating way of dictating terms, Daddy.’

  ‘It’s the only weapon I have against being so easily manipulated by your charms.’

  ‘Then you approve of July?’

  ‘Even when I don’t approve of your choices, Wendy, I trust you to make the right decision.’

  She stood up, forcing him to be a gentleman and rise to his feet as well. He looked puzzled over her action.

  ‘As you trust my decisions, I’m making one.’ She flashed him a playful grin. ‘I’m going to trade places with Shane and sit with my young man.’

  He moved into the center aisle to allow her to exit their seat. ‘Fine,’ he said with some relief. ‘I rather enjoy conversing with Shane. I can’t remember a single time he has ever caused me dyspepsia or a headache.’

  Jared and Wyatt walked from the courthouse with Officer Fielding. The judge had directed
a trial be held the following week. The charges ranged from murder and rustling for Mantee and his men, to attempted murder and accessory to rustling for Pegg. Dixon Kidd’s two men had outstanding warrants and would be turned over to a US Marshal and transferred to the courts from whence those charges had been made. As for McEnroe, he was facing numerous offenses for having been working with Pegg, including accessory to attempted murder, and undermining the authority of the local police.

  ‘I have to thank you Valerons,’ Fielding spoke up. ‘I got promoted to McEnroe’s job. My title is now Sergeant Fielding.’

  ‘Congratulations, sergeant,’ Jared said. ‘It’s a promotion well earned.’

  ‘Especially,’ Wyatt quipped, ‘since you got to the slaughterhouse in time to save Jared’s hide . . . literally.’

  Fielding shook hands with both men and left to go back to work.

  ‘I think you are right,’ Wyatt told Jared, once they were alone. ‘I saw Wendy and July holding hands.’ He narrowed his look. ‘Do you feel the guy is right for her?’

  ‘He risked his life to save me and Shane,’ Jared answered. ‘Got to give him credit. That took courage.’

  ‘A good many men would have done the same thing.’

  ‘You haven’t seen the guy hold a gun. He might as well have been unarmed. That’s why I say he has courage.’

  Wyatt accepted his statement. ‘I suppose you know, if Wendy up and marries Colby, it will leave you as Locke’s only unwed offspring.’

  ‘We ended up with Cliff and little Nessy in our household too,’ Jared replied. ‘If he ever gets himself a wife, it will be because of that little girl. She’s a sweetheart.’

  ‘Makes you want to have one of your own, huh?’

  ‘Wyatt, you and I are cut from the same bolt of cloth. We enjoy the adventure of being on our own, doing what we want, when we want, and being answerable to no one.’

  ‘We are both looking down a very short road until we are thirty years old, Jer. Time and our way of life take a toll. One day soon, we might both decide to hang up our guns and end our traveling ways. We could take a regular job, have a wife and kids waiting for us to get home nights, go to church on Sundays and have family get-togethers with the folks once or twice a month.’

  The two men stood thoughtfully for a moment . . . then looked at each other.

  ‘Naw, that isn’t me!’ Jared said, grinning.

  Wyatt laughed. ‘Me neither!’

  Then the two of them walked down the street together, trying to decide where they would have a bite to eat.